The present invention relates to tobacco extracts, and in particular to processes for providing tobacco extracts having certain amounts of selected components removed therefrom.
Popular smoking articles such as cigarettes have a substantially cylindrical rod shaped structure and include a charge of smokable material such as shreds or strands of tobacco (i.e., cut filler) surrounded by a wrapper such as paper thereby forming a tobacco rod. It has become desirable to manufacture cigarettes having cylindrical filters aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod. Typically, filters are manufactured from fibrous materials such as cellulose acetate and are attached to the tobacco rod using a circumscribing tipping material.
Tobacco undergoes various processing steps prior to the time that it is used for cigarette manufacture. Oftentimes, tobacco is chemically or physically treated to increase the flavor and improve the smoking characteristics of the tobacco. In certain circumstances, it may be desirable to selectively remove components such as nicotine from tobacco as well as from processed forms of tobacco such as tobacco extracts. Various processes directed toward removing nicotine from tobacco have been proposed. Many of such types of processes are discussed in European Patent Application No. 280,817 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,375 to Denier, et al. Another process for removing nicotine from tobacco is described in European Patent Application No. 323,699. See, also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,771 to Fagg, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,812 to Fagg, et al., and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 484,587, filed Feb. 23, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,775.
It would be desirable to provide a process for efficiently and effectively processing tobacco extracts so as to remove selected components therefrom.